The six large energy suppliers are complex businesses. They generate electricity and buy gas to supply energy to homes and businesses, as well as trade between different parts of their businesses, both in Great Britain and abroad. Since 2009 we’ve required the large energy suppliers to produce an annual Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS) to show the costs, revenues and profits for the different segments of their generation and supply businesses. We’re leading the way in making this information easily accessible.

We require the large suppliers to have their CSS independently audited. This is so consumers can have confidence that information on reported profits is accurate and robust. The large suppliers must publish their CSS no later than four months after the end of their financial year.

Following our referral in 2014, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a full investigation of the energy market. On 24 June 2016 the CMA issued its final report. It has made a number of recommendations relating to financial reporting requirements – including adding a requirement for the energy companies to provide information on their balance sheets. Following these recommendations, we will be engaging with stakeholders about potential changes to the reporting requirements.

How much profit did suppliers make in 2016?

Our analysis showed that there was a marked difference in profits for gas and electricity in 2016. Between 2015 and 2016, the domestic revenues of the large suppliers continued to fall. Despite this, aggregate pre-tax profits increased for the supply of gas. For electricity, aggregate pre-tax profits decreased year-on-year.

All suppliers showed a year-on-year decrease in profit margins across both domestic and non-domestic supply, with the exception of E.ON, SSE and npower on domestic supply, and Centrica and E.ON on non-domestic supply.

Select from the charts below to see interactive summaries of some of the data provided by the companies in their statements. You can refine and expand chart views as well as download data and graphics based on your selections.

Chart

This chart shows the aggregate profits of the large suppliers across the generation segment from 2009 to 2016. It is based on reported data from the six large suppliers’ annual Consolidated Segmental Statements.

Five of the suppliers (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower and ScottishPower) have financial years ending in December whereas SSE’s financial year runs from April to March.

Chart

This chart shows the aggregate profits of the large suppliers across the domestic supply segment from 2009 to 2016. It is based on reported data the six large suppliers’ annual Consolidated Segmental Statements.

Five of the companies (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower and ScottishPower) have financial years ending in December whereas SSE’s financial year runs from April to March.

Chart

This chart shows the aggregate profits of the large suppliers across the non-domestic supply segment from 2009 to 2016. It is based on reported data the large six suppliers’ annual Consolidated Segmental Statements.

Five of the companies (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower and ScottishPower) have financial years ending in December whereas SSE’s financial year runs from April to March.

Chart

This chart shows an estimate of the different costs that make up an average dual fuel bill for a typical domestic customer of the six large suppliers. It is based on reported data from the six large suppliers’ annual Consolidated Segmental Statements.

More Information

Methodology

Took the sum of each category of cost (e.g. wholesale, network etc) and the pre-tax supply margin reported by the suppliers for gas. Did the same for electricity.

Divided the gas sum by the total number of customers and added VAT at 5%. Did the same for electricity.

Added together the resulting two figures to get a combined estimate of the overall cost of a dual fuel bill.

Please note that chart calculations are drawn from suppliers’ reported total costs and total customer numbers, irrespective of tariff type. They will therefore reflect a mixture of the costs to supply dual fuel and single fuel customers. As such, the dual fuel breakdown is an approximation – values may differ, for example, if electricity-only customers use more electricity than those customers who are also supplied with gas.

The data presented is based on the latest available Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS). It may differ from the data in the suppliers externally published CSS. This is because we have made some adjustments to the way exceptional items are reported to improve comparability.

Figures relate to the suppliers’ financial years. Five of the companies (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower and ScottishPower) have financial years ending in December, whereas SSE’s financial year runs from April to March.

Chart

This chart shows an estimate of the different costs that make up an average gas bill for a typical domestic customer of the six large suppliers. It is based on reported data from the six large suppliers’ annual Consolidated Segmental Statements.

More information

Methodology

Took the sum of each category of cost (e.g. wholesale, network etc) and the pre-tax supply margin reported by the suppliers for gas.

Divided the gas sum by the total number of customers and added VAT at 5%.

Please note that chart calculations are drawn from suppliers’ reported total costs and total customer numbers, irrespective of tariff type. The chart will therefore reflect a mixture of the costs to supply dual fuel and single fuel customers. As such, the bill breakdown is an approximation – values may differ, for example, if gas-only customers use more gas than those customers who are also supplied with electricity.

The data presented is based on the latest available Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS). It may differ from the data in the suppliers externally published CSS. This is because we have made some adjustments to the way exceptional items are reported to improve comparability.

Figures relate to the suppliers’ financial years. Five of the companies (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower and ScottishPower) have financial years ending in December, whereas SSE’s financial year runs from April to March.

Chart

This chart shows an estimate of the different costs that make up an average electricity bill for a typical domestic customer of the six large suppliers. It is based on reported data from the six large suppliers’ annual Consolidated Segmental Statements.

More Information

Methodology

Took the sum of each category of cost (e.g. wholesale, network etc) and the pre-tax supply margin reported by the suppliers for electricity.

Divided the electricity sum by the total number of customers and added VAT at 5%.

Please note that chart calculations are drawn from suppliers’ reported total costs and total customer numbers, irrespective of tariff type. The chart will therefore reflect a mixture of the costs to supply dual fuel and single fuel customers. As such, the bill breakdown is an approximation – values may differ, for example, if electricity-only customers use more electricity than those customers who are also supplied with gas.

The data presented is based on the latest available Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS). It may differ from the data in the suppliers externally published CSS. This is because we have made some adjustments to the way exceptional items are reported to improve comparability.

Figures relate to the suppliers’ financial years. Five of the companies (British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower and ScottishPower) have financial years ending in December, whereas SSE’s financial year runs from April to March.

Adjustments

To ensure consistency with our guidelines on the treatment of exceptional items, we have adjusted published CSS figures in our summary analysis. The adjustments we have made mostly relate to the generation segment, whereas the overall level of materiality in the retail segment remains low (below 3%). For ‘as reported’ figures, please see the large suppliers’ individual published statements. Our adjustments are:

Centrica 2013

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £11 million for ‘Electricity Generation – Renewable’ in respect of net losses on the sale and impairment of assets.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £10 million for ‘Gas Supply – Domestic’ in respect of impairment losses.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £8 million for ‘Electricity Supply – Domestic’ in respect of impairment losses.

Centrica 2014

Reduced ‘Other revenue’ by £16m and reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £32.6 million for ‘Electricity Generation – Renewable’ in respect of the write off of investments and the profit on the sale of assets.

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £20.8 million for ‘Electricity Generation – Nuclear’ in respect of profit made on revaluation of contingent valuation rights.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £1.4 million for ‘Gas Supply – Domestic’ in respect of impairment losses.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £1.0 million for ‘Electricity Supply – Domestic’ in respect of impairment losses.

Increased ‘Depreciation and Amortisation’ by £58.0 million for ‘Generation – Nuclear’ in respect of depreciation of fair value uplifts relating to the strategic investment in Lake Acquisitions Limited. This was originally excluded from 2014 but has been added back to make it comparable with the 2015 figures which now include depreciation of these assets.

Centrica 2015

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £19.6 million for ‘Generation – Nuclear’ to exclude profit from the revaluation of contingent valuation rights.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £4.0 million for ‘Generation – Nuclear’ in respect of impairment losses.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £3.3 million for ‘Generation – Nuclear’ in respect of impairment losses.

Centrica 2016

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £20.9 million for ‘Generation – Nuclear’ to exclude profit from the revaluation of contingent valuation rights.

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £1.8 million for ‘Generation – Thermal’ in respect of reversing impairment losses.

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £6.4 million for ‘Generation – Thermal’ in respect of reversing profit on disposal.

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £0.5 million for ‘Electricity supply – non-domestic” in respect of fines for delays smart meter roll-outs, and by £6.3 in respect of fines for billing failures.

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £3.2 million for ‘Electricity supply – domestic” in respect of fines for billing failures.

E.ON 2013

Reduced ‘Depreciation and amortisation’ by £122 million for ‘Electricity Generation’ in respect of impairment write offs on the Ratcliffe power station.

Increased ‘Indirect costs’ by £15 million for ‘Electricity Generation’ in respect of a gain on the disposal on the London Array onshore sub-station.

E.ON 2014

Reduced ‘Depreciation and amortisation’ by £1,121million for ‘Generation – Conventional’ in respect of impairment write-offs on the generation portfolio.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £20.9 million for ‘Generation – Conventional’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £6.7 million for ‘Gas Supply – Domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £0.3 million for ‘Gas Supply – Non-domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £10.1 million for ‘Electricity Supply – Domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £1.1 million for ‘Electricity Supply – Non-domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

E.ON 2015

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £15.6 million for ‘Generation – Conventional’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Increased ‘Depreciation and Amortisation’ by £56.0 million for ‘Generation – Conventional’ in respect reversal of impairment charges.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £2.5 million for ‘Gas Supply – Domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £0.3 million for ‘Gas Supply – Non-domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £1.7 million for ‘Electricity Supply – Domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £0.1 million for ‘Electricity Supply – Non-domestic’ in respect of restructuring costs.

E.ON 2016

Reduced ‘Indirect costs’ by £10.4 million for ‘Generation – Conventional’ in respect of restructuring costs.

Reduced ‘Depreciation and Amortisation’ by £334.6 million for ‘Generation – Conventional’ in respect of impairment charges.

Reduced ‘indirect costs’ by £5.2 million for ‘Aggregate Supply‘ in respect of restructuring costs. Of these costs £3.2 million relates to ‘Electricity supply – domestic’, £2.1 million relates to ‘Gas supply – domestic’, and an increase by £0.1m relates to ‘Electricity supply – non-domestic’.

EDF 2013

Reduced all figures for Nuclear by 20% to represent the 80% share relating to EDF.

EDF 2014

Reduced all figures for Nuclear by 20% to represent the 80% share relating to EDF.

EDF 2015

Reduced all figures for Nuclear by 20% to represent the 80% share relating to EDF.

EDF 2016

Reduced all figures for Nuclear by 20% to represent the 80% share relating to EDF.

This document summarises the results of the six largest energy companies in 2013 and compares them across companies and over time. It also assesses the predictions of our Supply Market Indicator for 2013 against outturns.

To help consumers understand the revenues, costs and profits of energy suppliers, Ofgem requires the six largest suppliers to produce yearly financial statements. This factsheet focuses on the profits the companies made in 2012.

Ofgem requires the large energy companies to publish annual statements showing separately the revenues, costs and profits of their generation and supply businesses. This document summarises the results of the six large energy companies in 2012 and...

To help make the energy market as open and clear as possible, Ofgem requires the six largest energy suppliers to publish annual financial statements showing the profits of the generation and supply parts of their businesses.